Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a fuel cell including a frame equipped membrane electrode assembly and a metal separator. The frame equipped membrane electrode assembly includes a membrane electrode assembly, in which electrodes are disposed on both sides of an electrolyte membrane, and a frame shaped insulating member connected to the membrane electrode assembly. The frame shaped insulating member is provided around the membrane electrode assembly. Further, the present invention relates a production apparatus for the fuel cell.
Description of the Related Art
In general, a solid polymer fuel cell employs a solid polymer electrolyte membrane. The solid polymer electrolyte membrane is a polymer ion exchange membrane. In this fuel cell, the solid polymer electrolyte membrane is interposed between an anode and a cathode to form a membrane electrode assembly (MEA). The membrane electrode assembly is sandwiched between separators (bipolar plates) to form a fuel cell. In use, generally, a predetermined number of the fuel cells are stacked together to form a fuel cell stack. For example, the fuel cell stack is mounted in a vehicle as an in-vehicle fuel cell stack.
Normally, the fuel cell stack is formed by stacking a large number (several tens to several hundreds) of fuel cells. For this purpose, for example, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No, 2012-089505 discloses a fuel cell and a method of producing the fuel cell. According to the disclosure, it is possible to assemble a plurality of fuel cells easily and quickly, and perform the assembling operation of the fuel cells efficiently.
In this fuel cell, each of cell units is formed by stacking a membrane electrode assembly and a separator together. The cell units are joined together integrally using joint pins. Each of the joint pins has a large diameter flange which is engaged with the cell units at one end. Further, the joint pin includes a head portion engaged with the cell units at the other end. The large diameter flange has a recess for suction/holding of the joint pin. Further, according to the disclosure, the recess is sucked to fixedly position the joint pin. In this state, the cell units can be provided integrally with respect to each joint pin.